Gladys Knight Addresses The Misunderstanding That She And The Late Aretha Franklin Battled The ‘Same Disease’

Now it’s clear that Gladys Knight is not battling cancer but her previous comments sure fooled everyone! As you may be aware, before she entered Aretha Franklin’s memorial service yesterday, the woman told local station WDIV that she and the late singer both ‘had the same disease.’

Now, a rep for the singer, publicist Jay Schwartz, tells ET that Knight ‘does not have pancreatic cancer. She is healthy.’

Not only that, but the star herself decided to talk about her previous statement saying ‘I’d like to clarify that Aretha and I discussed both of us having cancer, mine was stage 1 breast cancer, and hers was pancreatic. Due to early detection, I am cancer-free and grateful for that.’

‘It’s unfortunate that on the day we should be celebrating Aretha Franklin’s life and her massive contribution to the world, a reporter who didn’t relay accurate information, missed the message. I send my love to the whole Franklin family and my gratitude towards them for sharing such an extraordinary person with us,’ she added.

So it sounds like it was all a misunderstanding and while Knight briefly struggled with cancer, she is no longer in any danger.

Earlier this week, Gladys also talked about her and Franklin’s similar stories.

‘We were both little girls, and I say, little girls, even though we have, like, three, four years between us, but we had that very same road to go, and over the years I saw her grow and she saw me grow.’

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Knight went on to recall that ‘It was more like us supporting each other. We were blessed enough to work all the time. So, if we were near where we’d be playing, she’d just show up. I would show up. I love her and I respect who she was and who she is and all of those kinds of things. She was amazingly blessed. That’s the best way that I can put it.’